Letters to the Editor June 30, 2009

This is in response to Linda Sutter’s letter (“Police chief thinks he can invade someone’s civil rights with dogs,” July 25).

Linda, I think that you have been misinformed in regards to Police Chief Plack’s intentions about using drug dogs to detect drugs in private homes of which the residents requested the Police Department to do so. I ask you, wouldn’t all parents concerned for the well being of their child want professional assistance to determine if their child was using drugs? In my opinion, that would be a yes answer.

The sole purpose of Chief Plack’s program is to help get our youth off drugs through education, counseling and community support, not to get them arrested! Chief Plack will have to work with Mike Riese to iron out the legal aspects.

I commend both of these men for moving forward in a positive approach to do something about the drug problem in this community that is destroying our youth. I say more cops with better pay, more drug dogs. Keep up the proactive ideas, Doug, hold your head high in knowing that you are trying to make a difference!

Crescent City today, a druggie here, a druggie there, a druggie everywhere. Where does it stop? I am fed up with it and all that goes with it, and I am sure that every other good citizen is too!

Richard Cain

Crescent City

Coastal commission should be eliminated

In his June 23 letter, Grover Drengson strongly disagrees with the assertion in Joe Albertson’s June 20 letter (“The city must reject the CCC’s desired changes”) regarding the California Coastal Commission.

Mr. Albertson was correct when he said the intent of the original CCC was to assure access to the ocean. Since then, the CCC has grown into this huge police-type bureaucracy that acts as investigator, judge and jury. If you were to drive on your country acre within the coastal zone in the winter, create a rut and it rains and a polliwog shows up in it, the coastal commission would consider it wetlands.

The tsunami was 45 years ago. Will a severe one like that happen again? Perhaps it will, but perhaps not. I wonder if Mr. Drengson pays for earthquake insurance. Probably not, but it could happen. I live on the Smith River and my home flooded in 1964, again 45 years ago. I’m forced to buy flood insurance by my lender although the odds of having another repeat of a 500-year flood are about nil. Could history repeat itself? Sure but if it happens again, so be it. To let these petty bureaucrats decide what is good for our county when we have competent government here to make decisions with more local knowledge is a travesty.

I say we eliminate this time-consuming and expensive commission.

Jimmy Csutoras

Crescent City

State’s process for setting up marine protections is flawed

As opposed to the Oregon marine reserve process described in Friday’s opinion, California’s process for setting marine protected areas (MPAs) is deeply flawed.

California, like Oregon, had a group of representatives sit at a table and hammer out policies for the management of state ocean waters. I represented northern area commercial fishermen on the near shore advisory committee in the late ’90s. This would have been the same industry, environmental and management talks that produced Oregon’s MPA system. Instead, our recommendations where hijacked by the Ocean Conservancy and turned into a process that insures closed areas that benefit no one.

Instead of a state process run by Fish and Game, we have a top-down process financed by big money environmentalists that stand to burden the state with up to $40 million in yearly management costs, or set and forget closed areas with little or no monitoring and enforcement.

In our near shore group, the environmental representatives advocated closing about 14 percent of representative habitats to protect marine species. The California process, due to start here in a few weeks, has closed 40 percent of the prime fishing area in the south-central part of our state. The idea that they are creating national parks in the ocean is ludicrous since you create parks in pristine areas. Instead, the environmentally backed plan, being heavily contested in north-central California, would shut down an area around a federally funded pier, severely curtailing its contribution to the local economy — the very reason it was built with taxpayer money.

Unlike the Oregon process, the California process has a blue ribbon task force that changes the various MPA proposals before they are put in front of the Fish and Game Commission for approval. No fishermen or local representatives are on it. Instead, it features people picked by the governor, some of whom have ties to big oil who would like to see fishermen out of their way.

Our local representatives have been watching this process, and have come to the conclusion that the ocean off our coast deserves a meaningful MPA process. Science shows, closures that ignore the unique local conditions and interests, do more harm than good. The current low level of effort (our local fisheries are at 15 percent of traditional levels) means that we have all the time we need to do this right.

A local committee is being formed, and the Humboldt Harbor District has written a letter asking the governor to stop this process before it starts in our area. We do not need to set and forget closures that could severely restrict or end our access to our local renewable ocean resources.

Kenyon Hensel

Crescent City

We should trust local people to decide where, what to build

I appreciate the debate of G. S. Drengson in his June 23 letter on climate change, state directives and local regulation. His engagement and acknowledgement that he disagrees is the type of debate I referenced.

A recent piece in the Journal of Climate by former NASA scientist Dr. Spencer challenges global warming models put forth by many. Some recognize and embrace debate; others want to deny that disagreement even exists. Francis Bacon, a philosopher, not to be confused with Kevin Bacon, the actor, said, “That which one had rather were true he more readily believes.” The global warming sect of society believes that man is powerful enough to destroy this fragile world; we believe that the Earth is robust, renewable, and dynamic.

When one considers “humanitarian and economic disaster” look out for the well intentioned greens and their unintended consequences. Ideas like cap and trade and the states proposed production tax (see article on June 25 on Page A3), will bring real economic disaster. Add more taxes and regulations to job and energy providers and see how long they stay here. The cap and tax plan will increase the average household power bill by $1,200 a year by some estimates. Running business and personal bank accounts into the red is not the way to avoid economic disaster.

For the record, the new sewer plant facility, built by dictate of a state agency and new state regulations, is at an elevation of 19 feet; an elevation well above 1964 tsunami levels. This information is available through city personnel and published documents available at the city. What we cannot know is how big the next tidal wave will be.

The California Coastal Commission is not going to run to the rescue in any local emergency, but my neighbors Joe, Jose and Jamal will. That is one of the reasons that we should trust the local people to decide matters of where and what to build; remote groups of bureaucrats cannot be trusted. The city can use common sense and does not need to hear, “don’t build your house on the sandy land. Don’t build it to near the shore. It might look kinda nice, but you’ll have to build twice, oh you’ll have to build your house once more.”

Let us decide how to use our town and shore. Please tell the CCC to stand on the beach and wait for it to rise.

Joe Nathan Albertson

Crescent City

If you love city, county please consider paying voluntary tax

My wife and I think it is time for a voluntary city/county income tax.

On June 24, The Daily Triplicate reported a 34 percent drop in state income tax revenue, while also reporting the county's difficulty in making a simple 10 percent cut.

Most of us would say “cut away and worry not.” But if the news reports, both local and statewide, are accurate, we will be cutting or closing prisons, jails, hospitals and schools all across the state. Some people may even actually starve.

We think it is time to ask, “do we care about Del Norte County?” The answer for my wife and I is “yes” and here is what we are doing about it. We are paying a voluntary city/county income tax.

This payment is taking the form of three checks. One is written to “The City of Crescent City” and will be taken to the revenue desk at our City Hall. The second check is written to “The County of Del Norte” with the note “general fund” written on the memo line of the check. The third check is made out to “Our Daily Bread Ministries” and will be delivered at the rescue center.

Linda and I know taxes are disliked and money is in short supply. I have not worked in 10 months. But we both also know our leaders need help. They cannot fix this problem by themselves. They did not do a great job when times were good. Times are now bad.

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